Friday night’s Cardinals-Rockies showdown was the kind of baseball game that leaves fans exhausted and players exhaling after every pitch.

So it was little wonder that Coors Field exploded with pent-up noise in the ninth inning when Yorvit Torrealba lifted a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Troy Tulowitzki from third and propelling the Rockies to a 2-1 victory.

It was Colorado’s fifth straight win over the Cardinals this season. More important, it kept the National League wild-card race from getting too crazy. Although the surging Braves beat Washington 4-1 for their 12th win in 14 games, they remain 3 1/2 games behind the Rockies.

The sliding Giants lost 3-0 to the Cubs, falling five games behind the Rockies, whose magic number was reduced to six.

Torrealba’s winning moment set up like this: Helton led off the ninth by milking a walk off Cardinals reliever Trever Miller. Todd Helton was replaced by pinch-runner Mike McCoy, while Miller was yanked in favor of Kyle McClellan.

Tulowitzki reached first on a fielder’s choice, leading to the first out. Into the box stepped pinch-hitter Jason Giambi, who ripped a single to left-center, moving Tulowitzki to third. Then Torrealba lifted McClellan’s pitch into the dark September sky.

Rockies all-star shortstop crushed his 100th career homer against the Orioles Friday night at Coors Field. The blast was a mammoth shot that had some history behind it as Story is now the fasted shortstop on MLB history to 100 home runs.